


Diamond City Cues

by ScatteredWitch



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Altered Dialogue, F/M, First Love, Love Confessions, Max Affinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 08:16:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19314226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScatteredWitch/pseuds/ScatteredWitch
Summary: Hancock has some pretty strong feelings for Sole, he'll admit, but he doesn't think he stands a chance.Although once he overhears Sole's conversation with a curious Miss Edna, the clouds seem to part.





	Diamond City Cues

Hancock had no damn clue why the hell they were stopping in a _classroom_ of all places. Well to be fair he also had no idea why Sole had dragged him into Diamond City to start with. To be even _more_ fair, Hancock was unsure of why he was dragged to most of the places that Sole picked.

  
Perhaps “dragged” was a bit strong. Hancock wasn’t in the habit of kidding himself after all; he’d follow Sole into a Deathclaw’s nest if that’s what she desired. He might question her sanity a bit but by hell he’d tag right along with a dopey smile on his face and a jet in hand.

  
_What am I even thinking?_ Hancock wondered as he glanced at Sole watching the schoolroom children with a glowing smile. _She could have whoever she wanted. There’s no way she’d be interested in me of all people._

 

“Oh!” Hancock jumped at Sole’s soft exclamation. “That robot is so lovely! I wonder if she remembers any prewar stuff. Whatd’ya think?” Before he could even form a response, Sole was already bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I’m gonna go ask.”

  
“Should we even be in here?” Hancock asked.

  
Sole’s face immediately fell and for a moment Hancock feared the worst: she finally realized the error of her ways in bringing him along. It would only make sense that his luck would finally be running out now.

  
“Hancock? Is it…” she glanced quickly at the ogling children as they whispered amongst themselves. Their words weren’t very quiet though; they mostly consisted of varying sentiments involving Hancock’s presence in both the city itself and the school. “I’m sorry. I’m sure this is making you too uncomfortable. We can leave-”

  
“No, no.” Hancock felt his eyes widen. So damn kind, this one. “I’ll be fine. I certainly know how to hold my own – I sure hope that you haven’t forgotten, doll.” He smiled when Sole did. “I just wanna make sure that you don’t end up in any sort of trouble for this.”

  
The snort that Sole let rip had Hancock chuckling. “As if they would even dare shake a stick at me,” she said. “I’ll be quick.” With that promise Sole turned quickly and scurried over to the robot who introduced herself as “Miss Edna”.

  
Hancock shifted nervously. A coup d’état he could handle. Attempted assassination, facing down bloody raiders, fighting a super mutant vis-à-vis – all things he could handle. All things he commonly did handle as most of these things he could knock off his to-do list on a typical Sunday morning in Goodneighbor. Staying cool under the probing eyes of children while standing in the middle of Diamond City?

  
Hancock’s turned towards the children at their desks. Immediately each of them became interested in the darling décor of the room as they turned to admire the stunning wood work of the splintering floor or the splash of color that was the teacher’s metal desk. He studied them for a minute before turning back to the comforting sight of Sole’s back (and backside).

  
The children broke into poorly suppressed tittering and anxious whispers.

  
The Diamond City security just down the stairs was starting to pace anxiously.

  
_Ah fuck. Well I’ve trusted Sole to guide me so far, and she hasn’t faltered yet,_ Hancock acknowledged. Furthermore the junkie turned mayor-junkie had to admit that Sole had done more than just not faltered – she’d changed the way that he framed the world. Her kindness and drive to help people had Hancock tripping over his own feet only shortly after meeting her (well meeting her the second time around after the whole Bobbi-No-Nose business).

  
To say that Hancock was in deep, sappy, originally-only-read-about-in-books love with her would probably be getting the point across in a technical aspect, but it still lacked the depth and passion of his feelings for her. But Hancock was Hancock and the things he’d done made him into something she didn’t deserve. He’d never regret those actions individually though, but he did regret the universe not giving him the chance to have met her earlier. Maybe before he got so cynical and bloody and ugly. But the wasteland was his home and his birthright and it molded him the same way it did with all its other inhabitants, it was Sole’s luck that she avoided having to grow up and marinate in something so foul as current “society” – and Hancock would never wish to take that away from her, not even in his fantasies of them being together.

  
Of course there was that small voice of his in the back of his head sometimes.

 

 _She did flirt with you twice! Maybe even more. There’s something there._ Speak of the devil and all that.

  
Hancock focused on the woman out of time once more. She had more scars than she started with, and her face was with some dings and bruises, and her hair had changed but… she still had that angel glow to her. As he watched her counting on her fingers (what was she doing?) Hancock felt his heart stutter a bit. _Hi, my name is John Hancock and I can’t keep my fucking shit together. I enjoy finding new ways to fuck myself over. And you are?_

  
“- I just… don’t get to talk to many adults.”

  
Immediately Hancock’s ears perked up and turned his focus back to Sole and her conversation with Miss Edna. What could that robot need an adult to talk to about? Could robots have sordid love affairs?

  
“This ‘love’ I hear about. Do you think you can have it for someone even if the two of you are very, very different?” asked Miss Edna.

  
To say that Hancock was invested in this conversation would be an abhorrent understatement. He watched as Sole tensed up and paused, his breathe baited.

  
Finally she chuckled under her breathe before relaxing. “If you love someone, hold onto them. Don’t be afraid to tell them and remind them; the outside world is harsh and bleak and dangerous; tomorrow you might not have the chance. At the end of the day the differences between the two of you that might seem so big and scary, they’ll fade into nothing and you’ll regret the opportunities that you pass on more than the actions that you take…”

  
The floating robot bobbed anxiously. “Oh no, I’ve made you sad again!”

  
Sole shook her head. “No it’s fine. It’s not you. Just here I am giving advice that I’ve been to skittish to apply to my own life… I mean what I said though.”

  
“I… Thank you. You have helped me make up my mind about something.”

  
The two of them exchanged goodbyes but all Hancock could hear was rushing water in his ears. He couldn’t even acknowledge the fact that his theory on sordid robot love affairs might’ve been a guess in the right direction. He was much too distracted by Sole’s advice and the story that seemed to be hidden in her words. _Is that what I need to do then?_ Hancock wanted nothing more than to take a hit of jet and maybe a handful of mentats to figure this out. _It felt like her words were for me…_

  
He hadn’t even noticed that he had robotically followed Sole out of the building until he bumped into her and pulled his spinning conscience back into his body. “Sorry…” he muttered.

  
Sole giggled for a moment before her face turned to concern. “Hancock… are you okay? I’m sorry! I took a bit longer than I thought and-”

  
Hancock shook his head. “Wasn’t that.”

  
“Then it was…?” Sole prompted.

  
“I…” Hancock fished for a way to run away from the conversation that seemed to be looming over their heads. _But that’s what I’ve always been doing. This isn’t something I want to lose just because I’m as skittish as a brahmin._ “Do we… do you got a sec? I need you to hear something.”

  
“Of course. I always have time for my favorite ghoul.”

  
Sole’s gentle smile had Hancock clenching his fists. _Power through. Power through! Just fucking do it. Don’t fuck this up and chicken out like a shit, you stupid fuck._

  
“Is everything all right?”

  
Hancock nodded. “Yeah. Better than that even. This is just… tricky.” This was an entirely new area for Hancock and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that he felt like he was drowning a bit. But as Sole’s eyes board into his own, Hancock found himself feeling no reason to hide what was going on in his head anymore. “It’s just that being out here with you…” With one final breathe Hancock spilled his heart; he found that laying his feelings bare wasn’t as bad as he thought – at least not with Sole being the ever attentive listener. Sure it was stilted and painful for him for the first few moments but as he watched Sole’s face and noted the growing happiness that swelled behind her eyes as he waxed on about how traveling with her had made him so happy showed him so much. He had run so many times before but this time he didn’t want to and he wouldn’t. _Couldn’t._

  
“Maybe in the end,” Hancock concluded, “all my running wasn’t so bad after all. Not if it meant that I could end up with you.” He was so close. Just a couple more words and he could reveal the romantic feelings that he harbored for his companion, his vault dweller in blue that showed up and knocked his boots right off.

  
Sole interrupted Hancock’s internal turmoil. “You know they always say that your past is your past and as long as you’ve learned from it and leave it there then you can forge ahead. All that matters is what you do from here on out.”

  
Her eyes so sincere and kind, Hancock immediately felt skittish. It would only make sense that he do what he knew how to do best: dodge, deflect, and joke. “Heh. I know a lot of bookies that would disagree with you,” he smiled and whipped out the bravado “but I feel what you’re getting at… Throwing in with you has been the best decision I’ve ever made. It’s like I found a part of myself that I never realized was missing… which happens sometimes when you’re a ghoul.”

  
“Hancock?” He could only blink at Sole in confusion. “You’re doing that thing again – joking like that to deflect from your emotions,” she explained as she tilted her head. “What’s really going on in that head of yours?”

  
“It’s just… if I hadn’t taken up with you I’d probably be in a gutter somewhere, getting gnawed on by radroaches.”

  
“And now you’re dodging,” she muttered with a pout.

  
Hancock couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’ve been one hell of a friend.”

  
Sole bit her lip; Hancock was very interested in the way that her eyes darted around. “Just…” She had started to ask something, but it trailed off into a low mumble.

  
“Come again?”

  
“It’s – have you ever thought of us as being _more_ than friends?”

  
“… come again?”

  
Sole’s worried face turned to a glaring one. “I know you heard me, Hancock. You don’t have to mock me.”

  
“I’m not!” Hancock assured with raised hands. “You just kind of… snuck up on me there.” They locked eyes and Hancock sighed. “Come on. You don’t wanna have to wake up to this mug every morning. Never wish that on anyone I cared for…”

  
“That’s such fucking bullshit to say, John.” Hancock jumped at the use of his first name and the fire in Sole’s voice. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been traveling together for a long time now and I’ve found waking up to that mug every morning to be extremely pleasant, I’ll have you know. I like you as you are right now; inside and out, I wish you could see yourself from my point of view,” Sole admitted. “And… as long as you don’t run out on me-”

  
“You just keep being you and that’ll never happen,” Hancock interrupted. His nerves were fraying and his pulse was in his mouth (he’d kill for a hit of jet at this moment but he didn’t dare), and he couldn’t stand to let her worry about something like that for a moment.

  
Sole sighed. “It’s just that I’ve been so invested in relationships where people have checked out and abandoned me and it wasn’t… fun. But if that’s a promise from John Hancock himself then I suppose I’ll just have to hold it to him.”

Hancock couldn’t fend off the smile. “Moments like this, I know all that karma stuff is bull because no one like me should be this lucky.”

  
With a giggle, Sole jumped forward to grab his hand. “Funny that you’ve echoed my sentiments exactly. But tell me, John, why bring this up now?”

  
“Well,” Hancock pulled Sole closer, “I overheard your conversation with that ‘bot-”

  
“Miss Edna,” Sole admonished.

  
“-Miss Edna, and your speech about loving someone and the differences between you and your love actually being smaller than what they seem – it gave me hope. Or inspired enough romantic stupidity. Something along those lines,” Hancock joked.

  
“Semantics.” Sole rolled her eyes.

  
With a chuckle, Hancock kissed Sole’s hand. “Come on, love. Let’s get this freakshow on the road.”

**Author's Note:**

> I reached max affinity with Hancock while in that school in Diamond City, having that cute conversation with that adorable Miss Edna. Inspired me a bit :]
> 
> (Of course I fudged with the dialogue a bit [a lot])


End file.
